Two Pursuit of Strength athletes, Max Seeley and Ebby David, competed at the 41st annual Sea Festival Open this past weekend in Surrey, BC, Canada. Both Seeley and David are relative newcomers to the sport of Olympic weightlifting, but their drive and dedication are on par with the most experienced athletes. Seeley competed in the 105k open class and achieved a silver medal finish by totaling 243k (105k snatch, 138CJ). While both of these lifts are personal records for him, Seeley already has his eyes set on the next goal, which is qualifying for the Canadian National Championships. Seeley plans to stamp his ticket to the Nationals at the BC Provincial Championships in December where he needs to total 260k. David competed in his first competition in the 85k open class, totaling 145k (63k snatch, 82k CJ). While both of these lifts have been achieved before in training, the goal of this first contest was to experience the competitive environment. Now that David’s first competition is under his belt, his training will have more of an acute focus as he prepares for the next event in August. Friends of Pursuit of Strength, Ben Turner (77k open class) and Rachel Siemens (75k open class), both achieved silver medal finishes, totaling 216k (96k/120k) and 188k (83k/105k) respectively. As well, 75k lifter Nolan Thorn totaled 159k (63k/96k), and achieved a personal best CJ in the process. Check out the video of Max Seeley’s competition below: